Children of the Sun and Sea
by StarOfFeanor
Summary: Percy is ordered to teach Will how to ride a horse. ***Note-contains boy x boy.


**Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.**

 **Note***- This story is boy x boy. Don't like? You don't have to read.**

ΩΩΩ

 ** _••_** _Percebeth never happened. Why? Cause I don't feel like writing a realistic break-up between them. Also, don't hate me for having Nico not appear in this story. I just didn't want him to once again not end up with his dream man. **••**_

ΩΩΩ

"Peter Jacobs."

I managed to keep my reaction down to a small grimace when I looked up. I'd given up hope that Dionysus would ever use my name. I knew he knew it. He'd used it once. He just refused to acknowledge that he knew it.

The chubby, red faced, man was frowning at me, somehow still giving the impression that he thought he was better than everyone around him even though he was the one wearing a tiger striped Hawaiian shirt.

"Yes, Mr.D?"

The camp director gave me an unimpressed look, perhaps having something to do with my unenthusiastic greeting.

"Congratulations Parker, you've won the dubious award of being promoted to substitute teacher of remedial riding lessons."

I wasn't as successful at hiding my second grimace. There was a reason that I hadn't been asked to teach anything before. I was terrible at it. "I'm… not sure that I'm the one you want. Where's Chiron? I thought that he normally oversaw the riding classes."

Mr. D snorted, "Chiron only watches over the normal classes. Any remedial lessons are normally undertaken by the head of said camper's cabin."

I frowned. "But I'm the only camper in the Poseidon cabin."

He blinked his bloodshot blue eyes and looked at me as though I was incredible dense, "Very good Patrick. You are the only child of Poseidon at camp. I suppose that probably explains why I said 'normally'."

I tried to suppress that flash of irritation I felt. I hated being talked to like I was an idiot. My best friend, Annabeth, put her hand on mine and gave me a 'just say yes' look. I sighed and looked back to our camp director. The way he was looking at me made it clear that my teaching the class wasn't actually a request.

You'd have thought that literally saving the whole world twice would be enough. You'd think that I'd be able to get away with saying no to the terrible idea of me being a teacher. You'd also be wrong.

"Alright, I'll do it. Who am I teaching?"

Judging by the way that Mr. D started walking away right after I finished agreeing, he had no intention of answering my question. "Don't forget Paul, be at the riding area at 6:30 tomorrow."

What he'd just said took a moment to sink in. "Wait, what!? In the morning?"

Even if he heard me, he pretended he didn't.

Annabeth winced on my behalf. "Well, I guess you have your answer Sea-weed brain."

ΩΩΩ

For the record, 6 am is a disgusting time of day. Anyone who willingly wakes up that early is clearly also the kind of person who likes dark chocolate and movies with unhappy endings. Crawling out of my bed and getting ready was horrible. Sometimes I did wonder exactly what I'd done to make Dionysus hate me so much.

I mean, I was not stranger to the wrath of the gods.

Ares hated me because I'd embarrassed him. Hades and Zeus hated me simply because my dad was Poseidon and I was the child of the prophecy rather than their kids. Hera hated me because I refused to thank her the way that she seemed to think I should have. Athena hated me because I'd unintentionally hurt her daughter when I was 14 and told Annabeth I was gay. I didn't even know that Annabeth had feelings for me back then. So I couldn't really be blamed for hurting her. Besides those feeling faded years ago, now we were closer friends than ever before. Yet, her mom still hated me.

Still, whether or not I agreed with their reasoning, I could understand why they hated me. The closest I'd ever got to understanding why Dionysus hated me was his story about my half-brother Theseus abandoning his wife on an island. What that actually had to do with me though, I'd never understand.

I shook my head. I'd probably never understand the gods.

ΩΩΩ

The only plus side of me having to teach whoever it was to ride, was that I got to spend extra time with the Pegasus.

As soon as I entered the stables, I was surrounded. There were half a dozen winged horses fighting for my attention before Blackjack showed up and pushed his way through to me.

 _'Hey Boss!'_

I smiled at the greeting. "Hey."

The black Pegasus tossed his head in what I took to be a sign of happiness. _'Are we going somewhere? We haven't gone flying in ages.'_

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel guilty over not getting to spend much time with him. In the end I settled for just patting his neck. "It's only been two weeks, that's not that long."

 _'It is when you only have these guys to talk to.'_

The other winged horses showed their protest to his comment by stomping their hooves and whinnying. Before I was forced to come up with a response to calm the others down, I heard someone approaching the stables. Since it was way too early for most of the others campers to be up, I figured it must be my student.

I turned around with a smile and came face to face with Will from the Apollo cabin.

The son of the poetry god was dressed the same way as I was. He was wearing jeans and an orange camp half-blood t-shirt. His wavy blond haired fell to just above his shoulders. Since he was the child of the sun god, it was only natural that his skin was incredibly tanned. He was even more sun-kissed than me, and it made his blue eyes look even brighter.

If I had to sum up his appearance in one word, it would be 'surfer'. Just looking at him made one think of beaches and summer.

I didn't know the son of Apollo very well. We saw each other around camp and occasionally we hung out together in big groups, but I'd never actually spent any time alone with the son of the music god before. Certainly not enough time to have offended him, or at least I hadn't thought so. Yet as soon as he realized it was me waiting for him, he froze and the smile he'd been wearing fell.

"Percy? What are you doing here?"

I frowned. I had assumed that Will was the one that I was supposed to be teaching, but I could have been wrong. Maybe he had just wanted to go for an early morning flight. "Mr. D told me that I had to give a camper riding lessons."

Will paled and his mouth fell open slightly. "Wait, you? You're my teacher? But… you don't teach anything."

So I had been right about him being my student.

I shrugged and rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. "That's because I'm not really a teacher. I wasn't given a choice in the matter. Mr. D made it very clear that I was expected to show you anyway."

For reasons that I would probably never figure out, Will went from completely pale to bright red in less than a second.

"But…" He shook his head. "Listen Percy, you don't have to do this. I know that you hate teaching. I'm sure I can figure this out on my own."

For as much confidence as he tried to put into his words, the dubious glance he gave Blackjack told me that he wasn't confident. I may not have been as close to him as I was to Jason or Annabeth, but I still considered him a friend and I wasn't about to skip out on our class just because I didn't want to teach it.

"No, it's ok. I'm here anyway. I don't mind trying to show you."

I gave him a large friendly smile, but it only made him look away and shift uncomfortably. I mentally sighed. If he already didn't like me, I had no idea how I was supposed to teach him anything.

ΩΩΩ

Our first few lessons were really unsuccessful. Will was so uncomfortable around the Pegasus that he was supposed to be riding, Porkpie, that it made the white Pegasus nervous. I talked to Porkpie to calm him down. It helped a little bit, but only to the point where after 3 lessons Will was finally able to sit on his back.

The son of Apollo looked so uncomfortable in the saddle that it was hard not to laugh. They hadn't even left the ground yet and already, Will looked like he thought he was going to fall off. With how tightly he was gripping the reins I knew it was going to take more work before they were ever ready to take off.

Porkpie was a very smart animal. He could tell that Will was nervous, which in turn made him nervous, which only served to freak out the son of Apollo further in a never ending cycle. I just had to calm both of them down and convince them that they weren't going to die.

I figured it was time to try some of that psychology that Annabeth had mentioned to me. I made a few pointless tweaks to how Will was sitting. He willingly let me move his wrists to hold the reins differently. I looked up at the blue-eyed boy and gave him an encouraging smile.

"Doesn't that feel more comfortable? Do you feel the difference in your balance?"

His eyes widened and he looked away, his face going red again. He seemed to do that pretty often. I could say something completely normal and yet he would instantly look away. I had to resist sighing.

"Yes… I think so." He frowned in concentration and flexed his fingers on the reins. I was pleased to see that he did look slightly calmer. Porkpie had also picked up on it and was no longer shuffling his feet.

My smile grew and I nodded. "Why don't you try going for a short ride around the pasture." At his look of panic I clarified. "You don't need to go flying yet. Just try a slow, easy, trot."

It was probably for the best that I could speak horse, because Porkpie took it upon himself to start moving. I wasn't sure Will ever would have been able to start on his own. The son of Apollo's eyes doubled in size as soon as they started to move. His death grip on the reins came back, but fortunately he was content to let Porkpie dictate their path and didn't try tugging the reins in different directions yet.

The pasture wasn't very big since all of the horses at camp had wings and could leave it whenever they wanted, so it didn't take them long to get back to where they'd started. However anyone who saw Will's face would probably assume he had just won some kind of race. He looked so excited.

The son of Apollo he was laughing. "I did it!"

I couldn't help but smile at him. "Yes you did. I told you that you wouldn't fall."

He climbed down from Porkpie and before I could react, I found myself wrapped in an extremely unexpected hug. I froze for a moment before I hesitantly returned it.

Maybe it should have been awkward considering the fact that he didn't seem to like me very much, but it wasn't. I was only a couple of inches taller than the son of the music god. He would have been the perfect height if I'd wanted to nuzzle his neck. I blushed slightly at the thought.

I blamed the hormones. The two of us may not have been very close friends, but that didn't mean I didn't know he was good looking. I wasn't blind. The blue-eyed boy was very good-looking.

As though he'd suddenly realized just who it was he was hugging, he pulled away. His eyes were wide and his entire face was bright red. Before I could say anything, he murmured some excuse about his siblings and ran off.

ΩΩΩ

We didn't mention the hug again, but that didn't mean I stopped thinking about it. I felt more than a little guilty at my thoughts, but I couldn't help it. It had been nice hugging the child of the sun god. He was warm. He was attractive. He was single. The only issue was that he didn't seem to like me all that much.

Our friendship was tense.

In the three and a half weeks since what I had mentally dubbed the 'incident', I'd tried to hang out with him outside of just our typical riding lessons. We seemed to be able to get along okay as long as we had others with us but as soon as it was just the two of us, he always looked ready to run away. I couldn't understand why he kept agreeing to spend time with me and our friends if I made him so uncomfortable. Since I actually liked spending time with him though, I didn't say anything.

Our lessons were progressing well. Ever since he'd successfully ridden Porkpie around the pasture without falling, he seemed to have gained more confidence. It had taken another two weeks, but eventually they successfully got off the ground.

We had taken to riding around camp together in the mornings, Will on Porkpie and me on Blackjack. He still only felt comfortable flying slowly, but speed was something he'd gain with more practice. Truthfully he didn't need the lessons anymore, but neither of us chose to mention it.

I was slightly nervous that he'd eventually say he didn't need my help and put a stop to our morning flights. I hoped he wasn't saying anything for the same reason I wasn't. I was hoping he enjoyed spending the mornings with me before the rest of the campers were up. Six in the morning was still a disgusting time to wake up, but I didn't mind it so much when I got to spend it with the son of Apollo.

ΩΩΩ

The two of us landed and thanked the Pegasus that we were riding. I was busy watching the two of them fly off so I didn't even see Will move at first. It wasn't until I felt a pair of lips brush my cheek that my attention snapped back to the blond haired boy beside me.

I felt my jaw drop slightly as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that the son of Apollo had apparently just kissed me. The blue-eyed boy's face was completely red and he seemed to be having trouble meeting my eyes.

My brain seemed to have suddenly abandoned me. "Wait… what?"

Whatever response he'd been hoping for, apparently, that wasn't it. He looked up at me and I could see the panic appearing in his eyes.

"Oh my gods, Percy. I'm so sorry. I thought, I mean… I heard that you might be interested in guys and we've been hanging out so much lately that I figured… I mean…"

He looked about one second away from bolting so I grabbed his hand to stop him. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I just… it caught me by surprise. You always seemed so uncomfortable around me."

I didn't think it was possible for his blush to get darker, but apparently it could. He ran his free hand through his hair and gave a weak sounding chuckle. "Holy Apollo, Percy. Of course I was. I mean, have you ever seen yourself? Besides, I thought that you and Annabeth were a couple. I only found out last week from my brother that you weren't."

I instantly shoved the idea of dating Annabeth out of my head. That was just too awkward for words.

It was my turn to blush as the realization that I'd just be kissed by the son of Apollo finally sunk in. I rubbed the back of my neck. I bit my lip and pulled the hand I was still holding closer to me. It took a second for him to realize what I was trying to do but when I felt a pair of arms hesitantly wrap around my waist, I couldn't help but flash him a bright smile.

I used my arms to pull him even closer. I leaned down slowly, giving him a chance to pull away if he didn't want this. He didn't pull away though; he just leaned towards me slightly and closed his eyes. My heart started to beat faster as I let my eyes slip closed and finally let our lips brush.

It was short, but my entire stomach was full of butterflies. His lips were soft and warm against mine. When I broke the kiss, I finally did what I had been waiting weeks to do. I nuzzled my face against his neck and tried to bury the goofy grin I could feel on my lips.

I felt his head rest on my shoulder in return and heard him give a contented sigh. My smile grew even more.

Maybe teaching wasn't quite so bad after all.

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 **Authors Note**

I've never written a Will/Percy story before. Hopefully it came out alright. Much fluffier than I'd originally thought it would be. LOL. This was a request that I got ages ago, I don't even remeber from who now. I had no idea I had finished this story. I only found it when I was clearing up my inbox. (I have to write everything and email it to myself to post it) Apparently it has been sitting there ready to post for almost two years.


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